David Bonetti's article regarding the Elise S. Haas Collection reflects poorly on him and on the editorial oversight of The Examiner ( "A few masterpieces can't save Haas show," Weekend section, April 2).

An art critic may indeed critique any artistic aspect of any work. In fact, sharing an affirmative example of the foresight of other collectors, as Bonetti also did, can or may reinforce the credibility of his criticism of particular pieces of art.

But Bonetti's cavalier criticism of a donor's motivation, reasons for collecting and / or conditions related to a gift is neither appropriate nor within his purview as an art critic.

Any arts organization has both the option and the ability to work collaboratively with benefactors in order to determine collectively what may work for an institution and what may not. For whatever reason, the organization may also choose to do otherwise.

That the Haas family has demonstrated such incredible, ongoing commitment to the entire Bay Area community, and by its example encouraged others to do similarly, is not the issue. The unfortunate consequence of the criticism directed at the late Elise Haas by Bonetti is to aggressively dissuade the philanthropy of existing benefactors and the potential generosity of others. Mary Powell San Francisco

As a member of an organization deeply beholden to Elise Stern Haas and her family through its generations, I must express dismay over David Bonetti's review of the Haas exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Let us put quite aside the fact that Bonetti appears to think the name Levi and Strauss are hyphenated, and let's dismiss his curious use of "bequested" when

"bequeathed" is clearly in order.

What remains is an unwarranted dental examination of a very large gift horse. And I am relieved that my late friends Walter Haas Jr., Daniel Koshland, Ruth Haas Lilienthal, Margaret Koshland Sloss and Rhoda Haas Goldman have been spared the reading of Bonetti's piece. Their embarrassment, or worse, is something I shouldn't care to contemplate in this connection. Robin Sutherland San Francisco

Who owns Elvis' name?

An English court's denial of American claims to the name of Elvis Presley reveals the deep cultural divide that separates us from much of the rest of the world ( "Elvis estate to Britain: Don't be cruel," Business section, Apr. 5). Not everyone has yet to be convinced that everything, including one's names and one's DNA, should be priced in the market and sold to the highest bidder.

At one point one's name represented one's honor, one's reputation as a member of the community. Now it comes down to how many T-shirts it will sell.

Maybe instead of accusing the rest of the world of being backwards for its defense of a more conservative approach to intellectual property rights, we should examine our own obsession with turning everything into cold, hard cash. We might discover we've sold our soul - and at what a low price. Bruce Skogen Oakland

Law on gun ownership

Laurie Leiber's assertion that "no federal court in our nation's history has ever ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees a right to private, individual gun ownership" (letter, March 28) is flatly wrong. Gilbert Equipment Co. vs. Higgins (1990) is one of the decisions that acknowledge the right of the individual to possess firearms. Hopefully she was simply misled by the anti-gun lobby.

The right to bear arms is not absolute: Federal courts have ruled that felons can be legally prohibited from possessing firearms and that individuals can be legally prohibited from possessing certain weapons.

The letter quotes Chief Justice Warren Burger as not believing in an individual right to bear arms. Burger was perhaps not the strongest defender of civil liberties. He said nothing about the Second Amendment while he was on the Supreme Court.

Even without the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms would be guaranteed under the Ninth Amendment, as the right to have an abortion is today. Michael J. Dix San Jose

For Laurie Leiber's information, the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that the Second Amendment doesn't guarantee the individual right to own guns. Until it does so, this is a legitimate constitutional right.

Why are all the other individual rights in the Bill of Rights (freedom of speech, freedom of religion, protection against self-incrimination, etc.) while the Second Amendment is, conveniently for the gun prohibitionists, a collective right? Matt Bear Petaluma

Blame in Shepard case

Russell Henderson pleaded guilty of the "senseless and brutal" killing of gay college student Matthew Shepard.

Henderson, we're told, was a good kid, an Eagle Scout. My brother and I were Eagle Scouts. You have to earn 21 merit badges, including "Citizenship in the Home and Community," meant to sensitize the aspirant to the meaning of community.

The Boy Scouts of America's policy is intolerant toward gays. Did the Scouts organization miss an opportunity to expose young Henderson to a positive image of young gay men as a part of his community?

Shepard is dead. Henderson's life will be wasted in prison. Who else is to blame? Gary Powell San Francisco

Milosevic "cracking'?

One suspects recent signs the Milosevic regime may be cracking may be less the result of NATO bombing than due to international public opinion polls hardening against Milosevic and shifting toward the use of ground forces not only to free Kosovo but to occupy Serbia and arrest its leaders for crimes against humanity.

The Serbs are a noble and heroic people who have been contaminated by fascist nationalism. It is no longer enough to save non-Serbs from the Serbs. We must save the Serbs from their own dark spirits.

That means occupying Serbia, trying and punishing its leaders for crimes against humanity, the re-education of the Serbian people and the payment of reparations to the victims of genocide and ethnic cleansing to help them rebuild their lives after they are returned to their homes.

It is long past time to begin moving troops into the area to conduct ground operations. While we are doing that, we need to arm the Kosovar resistance, take out Serbian state television and replace it with broadcasts from aircraft of footage of the results of the Serbs' ethnic cleansing. Jon Roland Constitution Society Sacramento&lt;

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